After a costly eight-year battle against citrus greening, including a punishing 2012-13 season during which the disease likely caused about 13 percent of the orange crop to drop to the ground before it could be harvested, Florida growers have implored scientists for a better life preserver. [Source: Lakeland Ledger]

While Florida's tuition ranks among the lowest in the country, state universities' room prices are above the national average. In fact, students pay more, on average, to live at a public university in Florida than they do at a private one, according to 2010-11 data from the National Center for Education Statistics. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

Cyber criminals target little guys too

Technology is becoming an increasingly important part of running a business, and this means the risk of incurring a cybersecurity breach is becoming more likely. A cybersecurity breach, which can often result in a data breach, can come in many forms ranging from hackers to employee error. And any size business, no matter how small, can become a victim. [Source: Fort Myers News-Press]

For Common Core, a new challenge — from the left

Conventional wisdom held that liberals and teachers supported the new Common Core curriculum standards. Until the Badass Teachers Association crashed the party. “It’s not just the Tea Party that’s skeptical of the Common Core,” said Bonnie Cunard, a Fort Myers teacher who manages the Facebook page for the 1,200 Florida BATs. “We on the left, like the folks on the right, are saying we want local control.” [Source: Miami Herald]

How to make reusable rockets for cheap space travel

For decades, the aerospace industry has sought to build a fully reusable rocket launch system to bring down the cost of ferrying people and payloads into orbit. Despite dozens of concepts and millions of dollars directed at that goal, no truly reusable system has been created yet. What does it take to build one? [Source: Space.com]

› Workforce Central Florida offers 'Develop you' job-skills classes[Orlando Sentinel] Workforce Central Florida is offering a variety of classes to help build job skills for those seeking a new career or employment. The "Develop You" classes cover such topics as resume writing, coping with unemployment, networking, social media and overcoming challenges of being overqualified for a position.

› 2 companies bid on downtown Orlando bike-share program[Orlando Sentinel] Two companies, one with a local connection, are vying to start a bicycle-sharing program in and around downtown Orlando. Cyclehop LLC, which absorbed Orlando-based SunCycles, and B-cycle LLC, of Waterloo, Wis., have submitted bids to the city, which will provide free spots for bike racks.

› Florida Hospital enters health-insurance business[Orlando Sentinel] In October, Florida Hospital will launch into the health-insurance business, executives announced today. In partnership with Health First Health Plans, the hospital system expects ultimately to offer both Medicare and private health insurance in as many as 11 Central Florida counties.

› Goodwill places some workers with below minimum wage jobs [Miami Herald] On the factory floor at Goodwill Industries of South Florida, cerebral palsy doesn’t stop Donnie Williams from stitching one button hole after another into the military trousers the Miami non-profit makes for the Pentagon. But Williams earns $4.22 an hour, according to a Goodwill supervisor, about 45 percent below Florida’s minimum hourly wage of $7.79.